


Red

by viceversa



Series: One Word [14]
Category: The X-Files
Genre: F/M, it's not a nice mention, mention of the other women in Mulder's life, pre-MSR, red hair
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-17
Updated: 2018-12-17
Packaged: 2019-09-21 07:37:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 462
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17039537
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/viceversa/pseuds/viceversa
Summary: Scully has a moment of doubt in the grocery store.





	Red

Just for a second, she thinks about going brunette again. It’s stupid, an insecurity she’s felt most of her life, but when Phoebe came into the picture, and then Diana, god. Tall. Big boobs. Brunette. Who else? That bug girl, Bambi, also brunette. Even if Det. White dyed her hair blonde, she was still tall and brunette by default. She couldn’t help but compare herself to these women, the “other” women. Not that she was his. Not yet. 

She should be thankful. She’s lucky, after all, or as so many women have told her. A natural redhead. A fucking anomaly. Thousands of women dyeing their hair red, shaking with envy when Scully said no, she couldn’t recommend a brand of dye because this was her natural color.

But Dana Scully couldn’t change her height, and as much as she tries to compensate with heels, three inches is the max she can go and still be able to run. Mulder was still out of reach. But he had a perfect view of her hair - her red, red hair. It clashed with so many things that she eventually gave up and only wore black, becoming two tone black and red, a matchstick waiting to be lit. Her effort to subdue her wardrobe only highlights her hair.

Brunette. She could pull it off. It would still look good with her eyes. She had been, for many years, yearning to be taken more seriously in the academy, her first few years in the bureau. When she first was assigned to the X Files. Hating to be called “firecracker” or “spit fire” or any other stupid redhead stereotype. It was worse when the adjective “little” was placed in front of them. 

So, when the world once again doesn’t make any sense, when Mulder’s spiraling away from her, when she doesn’t know what could happen next, all she craves is a little more control. Something to change. Just any control will do. Maybe she could recede into the shadows this way, becoming less noticeable. A less noticeable failure.

She hesitates in the aisle, hovering in front of the hair dye for too long, riveted by the sight of her old brand. Brown. Brown. Brown is dull, she thought suddenly. The color of wood, of stagnation, of mud. Of Mulder’s past. Fuck brown. 

Red is fire, it’s better, it’s her birthright, it’s a part of who she is. If the world can’t take her at red they don’t deserve her at all. Why should she be intimidated by Mulder’s failed relationships? She wouldn’t fail. She wouldn’t betray him, wouldn’t hurt him, no. She was different. She would stay, bold at his side, flaming hair or not. She walked away, straight to the checkout and home, not wasting another second.

**Author's Note:**

> a Tumblr drabble that came out of nowhere


End file.
